| JOHN WADDEY, EDITOR
Published by the Church of Christ, 12213 West Bell Road, Surprise, AZ 85374 Volume 2, Number 5
January 1, 2003 |
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Table of Contents: 1. TRADITIONS
A tradition is a belief or practice handed down from generation to generation. All institutions and organizations have their traditional ways of doing things. Traditions can be beneficial, detrimental or inconsequential, depending on how they impact on an institution. Churches are no exception.
There are holy traditions passed down to us from Christ through his apostles.
We are commanded to "stand fast, and hold the traditions which (ye) were taught, whether by word, or by epistles of ours" (II Thess. 2:15). Holy traditions were given by Christ and must be observed as his divine will (Heb. 5:9). Our faith, worship and practice must be based on these divine traditions. To be a holy tradition, worthy of our observance, it must be as old as the New Testament and found therein. Among those holy traditions are baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38); baptism as the entrance into the church (I Cor. 12:13); communion with both bread and fruit of the vine (Matt. 26:26-29). For disciples to wear the name Christian is a holy tradition (I Pet 4:16).
There are traditions of men. Jesus told the leaders of the Jews, "ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition...in vain do they worship me teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" (Matt. 15:6-9). Any religious teaching or practice originating this side of Christ and the apostles is a tradition of men, as is any teaching that is contrary to the New Testament. - Infant baptism: "by a tradition at least as old as the 3rd century...children born to Christian parents have been baptized in infancy (Oxford Dict. of Christ. Church, p. 689).
- Sprinkling for baptism: "In the primitive church, baptism was by immersion...the council of Ravenna (1311) was the first to allow a choice between sprinkling and immersion" (Ency. of Rel. Knowledge, Vol. 1, p. 201).
- Frequency of Communion: "from such passages as Acts 20:7, and various 2nd century writers it seems that the members of local churches all communed at the Sunday Eucharist. But in latter times...communion became very infrequent" (Ox. Dict. Of Christ. Ch. P. 319).
- Instrumental music in worship: "the general introduction of instrumental music can certainly not be assigned to a date earlier than the 5th and 6th century" (M'Clintock & Strong's Ency. Vol 6, 759).
To prefer these human traditions over the teachings of God's word makes our worship vain (Matt. 15:6). To be pleasing to God, we must be unyielding in our commitment to honor and observe the sacred traditions of Christ and eschew all traditions of men.
JHW 2. MORE OBSERVATIONS ON TRADITIONS
All churches have traditions. Some traditions are divine in origin and must be honored (II Thess. 3:6). Other traditions originated with men and hinder folks from obeying God's will. Such must be rejected (Matt. 15:6). Still other traditions are harmless. They are established ways of doing things that give continuity and order to our services. With such traditions we know what to expect when we come together to worship. - We have a tradition of an one hour worship service. The Bible nowhere tells us how long to spend in our assemblies. In other countries I have visited, their tradition called for two or more hours in worship. Either is acceptable. Each congregation must decide such matters for itself.
- Our tradition calls for half hour sermons. Again God does not prescribe a time frame for a sermon. Such traditions help us plan the use of our time in worship and afterward. Such a tradition is of human origin, but it is not forbidden. We could not however bind it on others.
- Our tradition expects a preacher to wear a coat and tie when he stands up to preach. In Bible times they wore no ties or modern style coats. In third world countries, they have different dress styles and a preacher might be perfectly in order to wear casual clothes. We should dress appropriately for the occasion and so as not to cause anyone to take offense at our dress. We must not insist that brethren in all other lands must observe our tradition.
- Our tradition is that we wear shoes to church. Most of us would frown on the adult who came barefoot. In many Asian churches, folks are expected to leave their shoes at the door. To wear them in worship would be considered disrespectful. Neither is bound by God. We are free to observe our tradition in the matter.
- Our meeting houses are built according to our traditions. We expect them to be suitable for the community in which we live. We heat and air-condition them. We carpet the floors and cover the pews. Christians in other parts of the world have meeting places that conform to their traditions. Many have no heating or cooling. In some places it is not needed, in others they view such as wasteful use of God's money. Where roads are unpaved, carpeted floors are not suitable. Since God does not address the type of buildings we should have, each congregation is free to make its own choices in the matter. Our choices cannot be bound on others.
Traditions we have. May God help us discern which of them are good, bad and harmless. Let us always be ready to obey those from God; reject those that hinder our obedience to Him and be flexible in those that are harmless and useful our work and worship.
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3. FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH
The year 2003 may well be a fateful and eventful one. As our nation confronts militant Islam we can be sure that terrorism will continue. A war with Iraq is almost certain. Islamic radicals are determined to destroy our nation and every vestige of Christianity. We have no choice but to defend ourselves against them.
Within the kingdom of Christ a spiritual war is raging. On one side powerful forces of "change" are pressing forward, determined to impose their postmodern views on the body of Christ. There are hopeful signs of an awakening among her citizens. The army of our king has been aroused from its slumber and made aware of the danger at hand. Good men are coming forward to take their place in the ranks. The year 2003 could well be the one that will tip the scales either in favor of the forces of liberalism or those who are loyal to the King and his kingdom. The question is where will you be found standing in the day of conflict?
Many preachers are hesitant about dealing with controversial issues. For them I offer the following thoughts. If you choose to stand aloof from the battle and allow those on the radical right to carry the banner against the liberals, then: 1). Either the liberals will prevail and you will be a displaced person, or 2). The radicals will prevail and you will be displaced as unneeded and unwanted. Those who are neither of the above, but faithful men of God, with balance and good judgment, must lead the way. Truth is always found between the extremes of left and right. The church will flourish only when she follows the middle road of truth!
PREACHING CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED is the title of a sermon preached by Bro. Clyde Miller at the Granny White church in Nashville. He does a good job answering the change agents who would have us discount the church, baptism and doctrine. It would make a good lesson to present to your congregation.
Our thanks to the elders of that church for sharing this lesson with us.
If you use the Internet, visit www.christianity-then-and-now.com. Our paper is now on-line. Bro. Roman Bond has done a masterful job in preparing the site. Each month's issue is featured and all back issues are archived. In addition there are some 60 additional articles; sections devoted to Questions and Answers; Book Reviews related to the change movement. A section contains historical and biographical sketches that show the link of our current change agents to the apostates of the past. New materials are regularly added.
Please share this information with fellow-Christians. It might just prepare them should be promoters of change come calling at their congregation.
YOU CAN HELP IN THIS ENDEAVOR. The good we can do is limited by the funds available to us. If you judge the paper worthy of your support, consider one ,of the following ways you could help:
- Provide the funds to send it to the elders and preachers of a given state.
For $50 per month we can send it to the leaders of every congregation in some northern states. - Chose a city or county you wish us to send it to. It costs us .50 a month to mail two copies to a church.
Multiply the number of churches by that amount and that is the monthly cost.
We can get the addresses. - Provide the funds to send a monthly bundle of the papers to the students of one or more of our schools of preaching or colleges.
- Underwrite the cost of sending it to all our Canadian churches. The number is about 250.
- Supply the funds for including useful tracts that address the various issues before us.
If you wish to participate in this work for the Master, send your checks to the Church of Christ, 12213 W. Bell Rd. Ste. 211, Surprise, AZ 85374. For more information e-mail us at johnwaddey@aol.com or call (623) 214-3715.
Those who send a contribution of $15 or more I will send a complimentary copy of my book, Liberalism, Deadly Enemy of the Church.
A SEMINAR ON THE CHANGE MOVEMENT was recently conducted for us by Bro. H. A. Buster Dobbs, editor of the Firm Foundation magazine. He gave us two lectures sketching the development of the current departure and an hour was devoted to questions and answers. The lessons are available on three cassettes for $5.00. A church would be blest to have Bro. Dobbs come and speak on this subject.
Remember that Vol. I of Christianity: Then and Now is available in a bound volume. It sells for $6.50. Only a few copies are left.
JHW
4. A BOOK YOU NEED TO READ
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF THE WORSHIP by M. C. Kurfees. This classic volume was first issued in 1911. It is a virtual armory of ammunition for the soldier who must deal with the question of instrumental music in worship. It discusses every related verse and answers every argument of those who wish to justify the use of the instrument. It is still in print and available from the Gospel Advocate.
When an illegitimate regime takes power it must find a way to legitimize itself. The common method is to revise the history of the people they would dominate. A people who do not know their past are more easily manipulated and controlled. When the leaders of the change movement finally emerged from behind the scenes, among their first tasks was to rewrite the history of the Restoration Movement. Their method was (1). To paint the earliest pioneers as denominationalists who agreed with the principles of the promoters of change. (2). They then set about to discredit the gospel preachers of last century who salvaged and rebuilt the church after the apostasy of the Disciples of Christ/Christian Churches. (3). They subtlety sought to revise what our early preachers taught and believed to be the doctrine of Christ.
The results are predictable. Those contemporary Christians who read only the histories written by the change agents are deceived into thinking that truth is really error and error is really truth.
RENEWING GOD'S PEOPLE, A Concise History of Churches of Christ by Douglas Foster and Gary Holloway is published by ACU Press. It is a good example of revisionist history that is designed to dislodge our brethren from their loyalty to the past and make them willing, compliant followers of the ACU scholars who are charting a new course for the church. One of their chief objectives is to convince their readers that Churches of Christ are nothing more than a denomination of recent origin. Those who are conservative and resistant to their change program are sectarians (pp. 79-82). They would have us believe that it was not so much the questions of instrumental music and missionary organizations that caused the break with the Disciples of Christ/Christian churches it was the sectional issues of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction (pp. 85-92). They find little to complement and much to criticize in their analysis of our past. They use a templet of how denominations evolve and place our record on that to make their point. The only hope they see for a successful future is that we embrace their program of changes. The most notable one being "to admit we in Churches of Christ are not the only Christians" (p. 138). They would have us get involved in the real world of denominationalism by promoting such issues as the Civil Rights Movement and theWomen’s Liberation Movement (p. 141).
Those who know nothing of our past might enjoy this book. Those who are already unhappy with the church and looking for justification for embracing denominationalism will love it. But Christians who know our past and are committed to the believing and practicing New Testament Christianity will find it offensive.
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5. IF YOU CHOOSE "CHANGE"
A number of our university professors and preachers are working hard to convince members of the churches of Christ to embrace certain changes in our faith, worship and practice. Of course, the changes suggested are the ones promoted by these very teachers. Already some of our Christian universities and a number of our congregation have made the decision to follow this route.
For those still undecided, I offer some thoughts for consideration before you choose the path of change. - To do so, you must be willing to abandon the concept of restoring the original faith and practice of the church, because the changes advocated were not a part of the original church. They are borrowed from our Baptist and Pentecostal neighbors.
- To do so, you must cut your ties with those noble saints who went before you. A preacher, congregation or school that can accept instrumental music in worship, women as church leaders, an imperfect Bible and think of their church as a denomination, would not have been accepted by those gone before.
Neither would the faith and preaching of those predecessors be compatible with the advocates of change. Like oil and water they would not mix. - To do so, you must acknowledge that the changes proposed will make you and yourcongregation denominational with all that adjective entails. As a denomination, your church will be no more valuable or acceptable to God than any of the 1200 other denominations men have created. In judgement He will say, "I never knew you: depart from me..." (Matt. 7:23).
- To do so, you should be prepared for the destination to which those changes will take you. Sooner or later you will find yourself alienated from and out of fellowship with those people who for some 200 years have been worshiping and serving Christ as simple Christians, and are known as churches of Christ.
- To do so, you must be prepared to stand before the judgement seat of Christ and receive the things done in this life (II Cor. 5:10). To be there guilty of abandoning the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3) and having participated in causing division in the body of Christ, is a fearful thought. Especially is this so when the only excuse you can muster is "people like it, or young people demanded it or it feels so wonderful, or where does the Bible forbid us to do these things?" "Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain" (Jude11).
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6. STRANGE THINGS OFFERED UNTO GOD
A favorite saying of some of our "change agents" is, "No act of worship is sin unless it is specifically forbidden in Scripture." With this in mind, I offer for their evaluation and possible use two items of worship being offered by denominational churches in our community. The Desert Palms Presbyterian Church is offering "a praise dance class" at their church.
Devotees are invited to "experience a relaxing 90 minutes of wonderful music, exercise and companionship with the object of praising the Lord through dance."
The Roman Catholic Franciscan Renewal Center in Phoenix is having a "St. Francis Blessing of the Animals Festival." "Several thousand people are expected to show up for the...festival."
If the promoters of change are correct in saying, "no act of worship is sin unless it is specifically forbidden in Scripture," then these two events of worship are perfectly legitimate and cannot be objected to. In fact, given the ecumenical spirit prevailing in our "changing" churches, they could easily participate in these "worship" occasions. It would be kind of like participating in the Billy Graham Crusades, which several of them have been doing. On the other hand, those who want to continue to enjoy fellowship of the Father and Son will do their best to avoid going beyond the doctrine of Christ (II John 9-11). Since such things as "praise dancing" and "blessing of the animals" are not found in the doctrine of Christ they will abstain from those unauthorized practices along with the use of instrumental music, women preachers, and a multitude of other proposed changes offered by those who feel comfortable offering strange fire unto God (Lev. 10:1-2). JHW |
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"Every generation, no matter how paltry its character, thinks itself much wiser
than the one immediately preceding it, let along those that are more remote"
(Schopenhauer). |
